The Journey of Kunwer Sachdev

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Transcript of The Journey of Kunwer Sachdev

The Journey of Kunwer SachdevA Staggering Beginning...1989-Kunwer joined the cable tv business. His job was to convince people to buy the cable tv system.It was a steep learning curve for him.He took 4-5 orders,but due to delay on company’s part in installation,his clients were dissatisfied. This was a turning point for him. He decided to learn how to install the system,and took the help of his high school Physics text books to learn the basics.He trained a boy to assist him,and together they started working on the job.This installation business expanded and soon he employed 10 boys1992-There was a boom in the cable tv business and competition in installation increased.Kunwer decided to do something new and started his own cable tv manufacturing company.It was difficult to establish this business,but by 1996-97,it flourished and he had a factory with 50 workers.

THE DIFFICULT YEARS...The team made a inverter with small circuit and 1 battery with much higher efficiency unlike the standerd inverter.They had no brand name.Su-kam product was not something people asked by name.Kunwar singh contacted advertising agency and agreed to a budget of 20 lakh.He himself started to learn advertising business, resulted out of the box ideas.Then they started tv advertising which was the only inverter tv advertisement.He made 3 teams to work for putting poster all around India in dhabas and other shops.By 2002 the company’s turnover was 10 cr.The following year company launched sinewave inverter and inverter with plastic body.

Success At LastEarly Life1. His father was in the railways but somehow we was interested in becoming an entrepreneur. ran a businessShifted his family out of the railway colony into Punjabi Bagh. He never sat idle always engaged in some work.2. Kunwer’s father ran many different businesses but never did well financially. Grocery shop Tailor shop 3.Hardships faced by his family Salary was meagreMiddle class background{fr eg to get a shoe or a shirt was a big thing}Situation worsened as he had to shift into a government school.Turmoil in life as his parents kept on fighting.4. He became independent and made his own decisions.Never interested in academics and no one ever forced him to do so.He was a helping hand to his elder brother.It was a great feeling to him as he earned a rupee or two.5. An experience which changed his personality when he joined “HINDU COLLEGE”.He was from a Hindi medium background.In his college everyone spoke English.Lack of confidence ……. I did not know whether I will be able to do it or not”Someone suggested him to read novels which would improve his english.The first book he picked up was “THE FOUNTAINHEAD” by Ayn Rand.It took him a week to go through it n finally he read 30 novels.6. He became the “most sought after guys” as well entered student politics and organizing committee in the cultural fest “mecca”.

Broke the record for collection of funds.Managed to “just pass”.Kept on learning new things and setting challenges for himself.Coined the name "Su-Kam" for his pens and wanted to make it into a brand.Set back by his family.Joined his brother but had trouble adjusting to his ideals.Kunwer wanted to expand the business while his brother was content with what they had.After some time he stopped working with his brother. This created a little tension in his family.All this while, Kunwer was in a relationship with a junior from college. Pressurised by his to be in-laws, he took up a job and enrolled for evening law classes.For the first time, Kunwer studied properly.He became the Teacher’s pet. Despite their opinion, he didn’t want to practise law.In the meantime, Kunwer and Geeta eloped and they decided to live apart from his family.Geeta understood their financial crises and decided to take up a job.

Kunwar had an annual turnover of Rs 3-4 crores and handsome profits.But many big players had entered the field and demand for his product was declining.In 1998,he thought of getting into inverters.Kunwar noticed that everyone was making same kind of inverters using a sub-standard PCB.Knowledge for the sake of knowledge.He learned how different things performed and showed it to his workers.Kunwar finally managed to launch an inverter but it did not rock the market.He kept on “trying” and ”improvising”.He bought equipments(like the power analyser and meters for testing).The company manufactured just 100 inverters in its first year of operation.Even though bigger manufacturers shook their heads, he was determined to make his ideas work.He wanted to make a good product and some thing which he was also convinced with .He brought in more people with fresh ideas to work on the inverter.

Got offers but refused them leading to a raid by the excise department.He did not realise that once he became a man of status, people would be after him. But this served as a good lesson for him.There were many cases against him. He owed the government a lot of money. All his stocks were sealed and the word spread in the market that the company was taken over.He went into depression.Su-Kam developed some innovative technologies.Achieved remarkable growth due to superior products, a brand name and strong dealer.In 2007, Sachdev fired some of his old employees. This furthur caused trouble as they began spreading rumours about the company.Once again, approached with a buy out offer from an American MNC. Got Approached by Reliance as well. A JV between Reliance and Temasek holdings Singapore invested 45 crores in Su-Kam.This was followed by a period of awards and accolades.The Su-Kam lab is full of inventions and innovations.Inverters running on solar powerHuge scope for storage of power.Now the company has a professional CEO who takes care of day to day operations. This allows Sachdev to concentrate on his bigger dreams.